One Moment Away
by Kaila.Nicole
Summary: -He was running, his boots pounding against the rocky terrain. The sensation of blind panic began to course through his veins. Something was terribly wrong. "Jake!"- Slight Jayley one-shot.


**AN: I just started watching **_**The Troop**_** last week, so forgive me if some of the information is a bit off. I'm just going on other fanfictions and whatever episodes Nickelodeon has on their website. **

_He was running, his boots pounding against the rocky terrain. The sensation of blind panic began to course through his veins. Something was terribly wrong. The tree limbs and rocks snagged at his clothing, his arms scratched and bloody from his fast trek through the wilderness. Electricity crackled through the air as he neared, listening for any voices that would declare what Felix had assumed. _

_However, the voice he heard proved more than Felix's assumption. It struck something deep down inside of him, as if awakening an unconscious mind from comatose. _

"_Jake!" _

\/

"Jake?" A curt female voice called out to him as he blinked his eyes once, twice, and again before darting up to a sitting position in his computer chair.

"Huh?" He ran a single hand through his hair, trying to determine where the voice had come from. "Who's there?"

"Jake, it's Hayley," She spoke again as his eyes adjusted to the light of the computer's screen, "Nice to see you finally wake up." Jake grumbled something about Hayley's power to be extremely inconvenient and she rolled her eyes. "Stockley wanted me to remind you about tomorrow's expedition. Oh, and Felix said to bring the laptop."

"Laptop?" Jake questioned, quickly looking down at himself to see if he was decent, and let out a sigh of relief as he realized he was wearing a semi-clean T-shirt.

"To lock up the portal so no evil monsters can come barging out of it whenever they please." She explained again, annoyed that she kept having to do so. Why couldn't he just read the manual Stockley had given him?

"Oh. Okay. Thanks, Hayley." Just as he was about to exit the webcam, she perked up with another request.

"So tell me what you were dreaming about. It looked _pretty_ interesting." In a flash, Jake heard the voice screaming his name again.

"Uh… nothing. I think it had to do with Mr. Tuttles… not too sure, though, since you woke me before I had a chance to finish it," He lied, hoping she wouldn't notice, and glared at the girl occupying his monitor. Hayley shrugged nonchalantly, too ready to click the "Exit Chat" button. Waking Jake up in the middle of the night with important information was something _she'd_ never do again.

"Well, I'll let you get back to it, then. Goodnight."

"'Night, Hayley." And with that, she vanished, and Jake was left alone to climb into his bed and let the rest of the world- and the confusion of his dream- disappear for a few more hours.

\/

"37 bottles of beer on the wall... 37 bottles of beer. You take one down, pass it around," Jake continued his song as he toyed with a gadget on Felix's desk, "36 bottles of b-"

"Please tell me you're not seriously singing about alcohol right now," Felix complained as the door slid open. Jake jumped in his seat at the sudden noise, accidentally letting loose an electrical current straight towards his friend. "Jake!" Felix screeched, dropping down to the ground as the laser burned the back of the janitor's door.

"Whoops. Sorry about that," Jake placed the Circutron down gently as Felix dusted himself off, "At least we know it works now, right?"

"I already _knew_ it worked but thanks for the lovely heart-stopping demonstration."

"What are you two guys fighting about now?" Hayley popped her head in, eyed the singed door, and turned back to the two teenagers. "Who fried the door?" Felix quickly pointed to the only other member of the Troop left, who wore a guilty smile on his face.

"Let's not worry about that right now. We have a portal to close up!" Jake ushered his two friends into the transporter.

\/

Several hours later, the three Troop members collapsed against a large evergreen, panting from the strenuous trek they'd been on.

"Jake, I think I might just murder you right here and now," Hayley groaned and leaned down to take a swig of water.

"Don't start blaming me."

"But you're the one who typed in the coordinates," Felix added before taking another peek at his watch, "We still need to cross over that ridge. The portal should be at the bottom of that hill." They gazed at one another for a few more moments until Hayley pushed off the tree, wiping the sweat off her forehead.

"Good plan," Jake muttered as his eyelids drooped down along with his head, "You go ahead, Hays." Felix opened his mouth to object, but she was already hiking up the incline, pushing aside branches and stepping on logs.

"We're actually letting her go by herself?" Felix questioned his friend as Hayley disappeared behind a thick line of trees. "It's not like she's some master hiker, Jake. Besides… this place gives me the creeps." He shifted his gaze to his surroundings, eyeing the dark canopy, the fallen tree limbs, and finally the wooden signs posted every few meters that read "Your life is precious. Please reconsider."

"Oh, come on, Felix, lighten up. Hayley's a big girl; she can take care of herself."

"Dude… you have to admit that this place gives you the creeps, too." Hearing no response, Felix turned to find Jake fast asleep, slumped on the ground at the base of the tree. After weighing the option of going after Hayley or staying with Jake, he chose the latter, and soon drifted away into sweet oblivion.

\/

A rush of electrical current woke Felix from his slumber, sizzling his brain cells and tingling his fingers.

"Jake! Jake, wake up! _Jake_!" He shook his friend with force, all while nervously checking his watch, "We've been asleep for twenty minutes! _Wake up_!" Felix didn't notice his hand slap across Jake's face until an annoyed groan erupted from his half-asleep teammate, and the angry red mark appeared on his cheek.

"What's your problem?"

"The portal is open!" Felix shouted, "Didn't you feel that current shoot through you?" Jake blinked before shaking his head slowly.

"Nope. I guess I'm a heavy sleeper."

"Which would explain why I had to slap you to bring you back to earth," Felix muttered, already throwing on his gear, as Jake stumbled, trying to remain standing. "Come on, who knows what Hayley's gotten in-" An abrupt shriek finished Felix's sentence and the two friends shot up the mountainside to aide their troubled friend.

He was running, his boots pounding against the rocky terrain. The sensation of blind panic began to course through his veins. Something was terribly wrong. The tree limbs and rocks snagged at his clothing, his arms scratched and bloody from his fast trek through the wilderness. Electricity crackled through the air as he neared, listening for anything that would declare what Felix had assumed.

However, a single voice he heard proved more than Felix's assumption. It struck something deep down inside of him, as if awakening an unconscious mind from comatose.

"_Jake_!" Shaking off the eerie realization his dream had just come true, Jake came to a skidding halt at the edge of the ridge and scoured the ground to find Hayley. However, he didn't need to look far, because a swirl of energy came bursting through the trees, directly from where the portal was rumored to be located.

Jake began scaling down the ridge, keeping his eyes on the tree line as Felix and he neared the portal, still blocked out by the underbrush and low-hanging limbs.

"I thought you would want to help me!" A voice exclaimed, echoing into the dense forest.

"We tried to help you! Why are you doing this?"

"Who is that?" Felix whispered to Jake as they peered from behind a large evergreen. Standing in a small clearing was Hayley, facing a cloaked figure, shock evident on her features.

"No idea," Jake replied in a hushed tone, slowly edging his way around the tree to gain a better look at the masked creature.

"I _trusted_ you, Hayley! The common thing one would do in your position is trust _me_."

"Gus, listen-"

"_Augustus!_ My name is _Augustus_!" Hidden in the forest, Felix and Jake gaped at each other.

"What the hell is he doing here?" A sudden whoosh interrupted Felix from responding and both Troop members glanced up to see Gus looming over them, his mouth curled into a disturbing sneer.

"It's normally polite to notify the host ahead of time that you are arriving, but I'm sure I can arrange something." With that, the two boys were thrown through the air, crash-landing onto the rocky ground and skidding to a sudden halt as several tree roots entrenched them to the earth. "Now, for you," He grinned as he neared Hayley and placed his hands onto her shoulders softly, his eyes boring holes into hers, "_Do svidaniya, my love." _With one final shove and two piercing screams, Gus plummeted to the ground as Hayley stumbled backwards into the portal.

Although mere milliseconds had gone by, the pressure Jake felt in his chest made him think that he might possibly start having a heart attack. What if he couldn't bring her back? Erasing these thoughts from his mind and clearing it like any well-trained Troop member, Jake withdrew his weapon he'd used against Gus and shot at the roots, which recoiled quickly and disappeared into the earth.

Once freeing Felix from captivity, Jake raced to the portal, shouting for Felix to prepare to shut it down, and without a second thought, dove both of his arms in to save his friend.

"Hayley, can you hear me?" He pushed away the panic that was rising inside of him and tried to make contact again, "Hayley, grab onto my hands!" Glancing back, he noted that Felix was typing away furiously into his compact laptop and that they only had a few more moments before the portal would be closing, locking Hayley in- possibly forever. Jake gritted his teeth, locking his knees to remain stable as the portal waned. "Hayley, please, if you can hear me, hold onto me!"

"I've got it!" Felix cried out and rushed over to stand next to his friend, "All we have to do is deploy this laser straight into the middle and it should disintegrate the molecular structures that bind this portal to the other dimension. Then, presto!" He waved his hands excitedly, "No more Ellis Island!"

"Yeah, except for the fact that Hayley is still in there," Jake motioned with his head, ignoring the electrical currents shooting up through his arms, "What if we can't bring her out in ti- whoa!" The sudden pressure on his hands jerked him forward, but he held on, tightening his grip around what felt like fingers. With a sharp tug, Jake lost his footing and fell backwards, the breath knocked out of him as he hit the hard soil. Barely a second passed before Hayley was out of the portal and on top of him, gasping and dripping wet.

"What happened to you?" Felix shouted as he locked his laser and began deploying it into the portal, which crackled and exploded with paranormal energy.

"You don't even want to know," Hayley groaned as she picked her head up off of Jake's chest, trying to catch her breath as she grinned at her rescuer, "Thanks, Jake."

"You're welcome," He responded in a breathy voice, sitting up slowly with his hands around her waist so she wouldn't fall over, "You okay?" She burst out into laughter, shaking her head at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay," She let out a sigh of relief and placed a hand on his shoulder, squeezing gently, "I'm okay."

"Good. That's… good." Jake's worried frown split into a grateful smile as he crushed Hayley to him, wrapping his arms around her damp body. "Don't ever let yourself be pushed into a portal again, all right?"

"I'll try not to," Her lips moved against his ear, "I promise." The loud sound of a throat being cleared awoke the two teenagers from their personal moment.

"You guys want to continue hugging things out or do you want to head back home?" Gathering their packs up, Felix slung on his and tossed the other to Jake.

"What are we supposed to do with him?" Jake pointed his thumb towards the unconscious form of Gus.

"What happened to him?"

"I shot him with my freeze ray." Hayley smirked, eyeing their enemy with pleasure, as Felix set about securing the portal.

"I have a pretty good idea what to do with him."

_\/_

He was running, his boots pounding against the rocky terrain. The sensation of blind panic began to course through his veins. Something was terribly wrong. The tree limbs and rocks snagged at his clothing, his arms scratched and bloody from his fast trek through the wilderness.

Gus cried out in anguish as a swarm of vampire moths shot down from the sky above. Immediately, the strange world he'd been forced into disappeared from underneath him as he succumbed to the moths' electromagnetic energy.

"_Hayley_!"

AN: Like I said, I'm a _Troop_ newbie, so if any information is wrong, I apologize. Normally, when dealing with a new fandom, I stick close to tragedies because they're the easiest for me to write, but I thought of this storyline idea before anything else and decided to go with it.

I'll probably have another _Troop_ one-shot up in a few weeks.

As always, review, por favor!


End file.
